TARDIS Alarm Doesn’t Go VWORRRRRP VWRORRRP VWORRRP

tardis alarm

Motion sensors are pretty useful — but they’re just so darn ugly! Well — if you’re a Whovian — maybe this hack is for you. A 3D printed TARDIS Motion Sensor Alarm!

[Malcolm] has a home security system that uses a series of motion sensors to detect movement in the house. When movement is detected an indicator LED turns on, and a wireless signal is sent to the main control system. So after discovering a nice 3D model of the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) on Thingiverse, he decided to see if he could hack one of his motion sensors to fit inside of it instead.

As it turns out, it was as simple as removing the sensor’s external shell, 3D printing a few support pieces inside of the TARDIS, and soldering on a bright blue LED to replace the dinky indicator light. Simple, but effective!

Don’t forget to check out the following video. Allons-y!

Sadly, it doesn’t go vworrrrp. Fun fact though, the groaning, wheezy sound the TARDIS makes was originally achieved by dragging a house key down the bass strings of an upright piano. There was a bit of post-processing, but apparently the essence of it is still used today!

11 thoughts on “TARDIS Alarm Doesn’t Go VWORRRRRP VWRORRRP VWORRRP

  1. The light should be white, not blue. In the video, it does in fact look white.

    My wife bought me the TARDIS cookie jar from Thinkgeek. It’s cool, but the led was very blue (like TARDIS blue). For shame! I quickly resolved that with a white led and a soldering iron.

  2. At first I thought “alarm” meant “alarm clock”, so I wondered what a motion sensor had to do with it… It is still too early in the morning for me to think straight, so this is not meant to be a criticism of the author.

  3. I am a Whooser (Indiana) and regularly stroke bass strings in the piano shop to illustrate the sound effects of the Tardis. Another classic Them, the giant post-atomic ants. The main sound effect was made by scraping the bottom of a pan with a fork.
    Eecreexe. Eecreexe. Eecreexe. Those mandibles!

  4. You have a great idea blossoming with this, think of expanding it to: Daleks with flashing eye stalks, StarTrek shuttle craft with flickering nesseles, Star Gate Star Gate Puddel Jumpers complete with flashing nav lights and SG-U Shuttles with flashing nav lights. This idea quickly goes into nerdvana.

    Can’t wait to try this!!

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